Norris beats Verstappen in dramatic Australia opener

Lando Norris mastered treacherous, changing conditions in a dramatic, incident-packed race to beat Max Verstappen and win the Australian Grand Prix.

Norris and his McLaren team made the right calls in a race punctuated by crashes, three safety cars and an aborted start as the Briton put together a statement drive at the start of a season he intends to end as world champion.

Norris was forced to fend off a late threat from Verstappen, brought back into contention by a late safety car, but held on to take his fifth career victory.

Lewis Hamilton finished 10th on a difficult day for Ferrari with his former team-mate George Russell third for Mercedes.

Seven-time champion Hamilton was leading on lap 46 but only because Ferrari had made the wrong decision to stay out on dry-weather slick tyres as a heavy shower hit the track.

He and team-mate Charles Leclerc then had to pit as a safety car was sent out for the final time following a series of crashes and dropped to the bottom of the top 10.

To add insult to injury, Hamilton was overtaken by Leclerc on the final restart, the Ferraris touching wheels lightly in the incident, and then lost a further place as McLaren's Oscar Piastri sought to recover from a spin that had cost him second place in the late rain.

McLaren acknowledged a concern that Verstappen would be a major threat, so good is he so often in wet conditions, but Norris and Piastri controlled the race from the start and were able to leave the four-time champion behind them for much of the race as chaos unfolded behind them.

The drama began even before the race officially started, when rookie Isack Hadjar spun his Racing Bull car at Turn Two on the formation lap. The Frenchman stood with his head in his hands, apparently crying, before returning to the pits.

After a 15-minute delay, the race finally got under way, only for another rookie, Australian Jack Doohan, to crash his Alpine on the straight between Turns Four and Six and bring out the safety car.

Underlining the difficulty of the conditions, Carlos Sainz immediately created his Williams at the final corner as well.

When the race finally got properly under way, Norris led but Verstappen passed Piastri to run second, only to lose the position when he ran wide at Turn 11 on lap 17, gifting McLaren a one-two.

The McLarens first stablished their position and then, as they looked after their intermediate tyres more effectively than the Red Bull, built a lead running nose to tail. They pulled 16 seconds on Verstappen by the time the safety car came out for a second time following a crash by Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin at Turn Six on lap 33, just after half distance.

The leaders pitted for slick tyres but there was fresh jeopardy as they waited for the restart - a rain shower was coming in, and the teams could see that it would bring heavy rain for a short period, but long enough to require a tyre change.

Norris was keen to pre-empt the conditions and stop for treaded intermediate tyres early, but was warned that they had to be on the right tyres at the right time.

When the rain came on lap 44, with 13 to go, it brought pandemonium.

Both McLaren drivers spun at the penultimate corner. Norris was able to rejoin and dive into the pits for intermediate tyres, but Piastri was stuck on the grass. There was a degree of black comedy as he sat on the grass, his tyres spinning furiously, before finally managing to reverse back on to the track.

Verstappen stayed out and took the lead for two laps, but as the rain intensified, he eventually had to admit defeat and stop, allowing Norris to retake his spot at the front of the field.

This was when Ferrari made their fateful error, leaving Hamilton and Leclerc out, to assume first and second places, only to immediately lose them as they scrabbled for grip for a lap and had to pit anyway.

Liam Lawson then crashed his Red Bull, a disappointing end to a difficult first race for the senior team, and Gabriel Bortoleto blotted an otherwise strong start to his career for Sauber, and the safety car was deployed again.

When the race restarted with five laps to go, Norris initially made a third consecutive excellent restart and built a lead over Verstappen.

But when he ran a little wide at Turn Six, he allowed Verstappen to close within a second and gain the use of the DRS overtaking aid, giving Norris a nervous final couple of laps.

But he held on calmly as Russell followed Verstappen over the line to take the final podium position.

Williams' Alex Albon was fourth, ahead of Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who recovered to fifth after starting 16th.

Lance Stroll made up for Alonso's error to take sixth for Aston Martin, ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Piastri and Hamilton.